This image was taken in the Okavango Delta, Linyanti (Kwando, Lebala). It was early in the morning and its a picture of nothing in particular which is the reason I like it. I was using a canon bridge camera at the time and it was never going to pick up the finer nuances of a misty forest at first light (especially from a slow moving URI) but the picture never the less reminds me of how beautiful the morning was and how full of anticipation the start of a new safari day is.

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twaffle
4,635

twaffle
4,635

"I wish that all of nature's magnificence, the emotion of the land, the living energy of place could be photographed."

- Annie Leibovitz

I think that despite it being an excellent quote, the words themselves explain the problem with any photograph trying to capture them. Many times the emotion in a picture come from the experience of being there. I'll see an image that may not be extraordinary in its execution but the emotion and energy and magnificence comes from my response to the memory of the place because I have knowledge of the landscape.

This is really why I think so many photographers have problems with presenting images that make the viewer feel something. It is a problem that hasn't resolved itself at all.

With any luck, we will get lots of different images posted here and at least some of the them will speak to some of the viewers. In the meantime, if anyone has an answer to Annie's comment I for one will be very grateful to hear it.

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twaffle
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twaffle
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I always post produce my images … I don't think I have ever taken a photograph that shows anything like what I 'saw' and certainly nothing like what I 'felt' without post production. But that's a whole different debate.

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Tom Kellie
17,988

Tom Kellie
17,988

I always post produce my images … I don't think I have ever taken a photograph that shows anything like what I 'saw' and certainly nothing like what I 'felt' without post production. But that's a whole different debate.

Safaritalk is so nice as it accommodates all levels of skill and experience, with different approaches posted together.

Lacking insight or even awareness of the deeper issues underlying photography, I try different styles, but mostly use images as an expressive device of my own inner feelings.

Being an older, rather quiet and solitary — i.e. outside of classrooms — person, I frequently struggle to express what's inside. Safari photography has enabled me to show both what I saw and what I recall having felt.

It should be noted that whenever I post photos, I read the entry for the relevant game drive in my safari diary. Doing so restores memories with half-forgotten details.

Being highly debate-averse, I'm content to recognize and admire diversity of aesthetic approaches in safari photography.

I'm certainly no artist, but I do love to look at your intensely felt, well-crafted images, as they speak to me of Africa's splendor and mystery.

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JohnR
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JohnR
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I always post produce my images … I don't think I have ever taken a photograph that shows anything like what I 'saw' and certainly nothing like what I 'felt' without post production. But that's a whole different debate.

The retina of the human eye has a completely different response to colour intensities than the sensor in a digital camera and each sensor manufacturer's red, green and blue detectors will be different. So someone has to make a decision how to combine the three raw greyscale images a particular sensor produces into a colour image that the viewer can relate to.

If you shoot JPEG and just use the factory settings, software writers at Canon/Nikon/Sony/Panasonic/... factory decide how to combine the three RGB greyscale images to produce the final image for you, usually on a scene based algorithm. Then there are the in camera settings for white balance, contrast, vivid,...

If you shoot RAW then you are either using a RAW converter whose software engineers came up with some settings you like which you the tweak a bit, or you are making decisions based on your memory of what you saw or what you would like to see.

What's the essence of Africa's spirit, were it possible to be photographed? Starting with safaris, many visits to Masai Mara have imprinted in my consciousness spreading acacias as signifying being on safari.

When I spotted this alignment of trees I asked Anthony to stop. There was no wildlife in view, yet the trees themselves projected the stillness of being far from settlements, petty quarreling and endless merchandising.

Tom Kellie
17,988

If you shoot JPEG and just use the factory settings, software writers at Canon/Nikon/Sony/Panasonic/... factory decide how to combine the three RGB greyscale images to produce the final image for you, usually on a scene based algorithm. Then there are the in camera settings for white balance, contrast, vivid,...

When I read your learned comment three and a half years ago I nodded in agreement but thought no more about it.

Reading it again tonight it continues to ring true. It's also clear where I fit in within your description.

I shoot JPEG, utilizing the “user customize” option. Utilizing a “grey card” and a series of tests, I calibrate the settings once per year to approximate my own impaired vision (I see in the right eye only).

My aim is nothing more than a moderate approximation of my own color sense, which has no connection to the precision required for industrial dye processes.

The current trip report was the only safari wherein I shot with anything other than Manual mode, which is typically my default shooting mode.

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